Hot Topic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the Le Tigre song, see Hot Topic (Song).
| Hot Topic, Inc. | |
 |
|
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1988 by Orv Madden |
| Headquarters | City of Industry, California |
| Key people | Betsy McLaughlin, CEO; Bruce Quinell, Chairman of the Board |
| Industry | retail |
| Products | apparel, music |
| Revenue | US$ 725,142,000 (FY '05) |
| Website | www.hottopic.com |
Hot Topic (NASDAQ: HOTT) is an American chain store aimed at teenagers and young adults. It has over 600 chain stores across the United States and Puerto Rico, the majority of which are located in shopping malls. The first Hot Topic store was opened in 1988 by Orv Madden. The chain specializes in pop-culture-related fashion and merchandise, including clothing, books, comics, jewelry, CDs, records, posters and other paraphernalia. It caters to a number of youth-oriented subcultures and countercultures, such as metal, Indie, punk, emo, goth, club, otaku and lounge, as well as a number of general and 1980s retro pop culture products. It has also backed major concert festivals like Ozzfest and recently Sounds Of The Underground. Products from Tripp NYC and Lip Service are also stocked.
In the past, major bands such as Korn and Good Charlotte have allowed Hot Topic to release their concert wear to the general public before they themselves appear on television or at concerts wearing them. Recently Hot Topic has held in store "listening parties" for bands such as Underoath and My Chemical Romance, so fans could hear their new albums before they were released. Hot Topic has also been a promoter of Jhonen Vasquez and his various projects, including Invader Zim, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and "Squee".
Hot Topic owns and operates a chain of similarly-themed plus-size women's clothing stores, Torrid, which began operations in 2001. The company produces its own line of clothing, Morbid Threads, whose products may be found in both chains' stores. Hot Topic was named number 53 on Fortune 100's Top Companies to Work For list in 2006.
Hot Topic's major rivals in its niche include Spencer's Gifts, Manic Panic and PacSun.
[edit] Criticism
In their marketing, Hot Topic uses rebellious imagery in an effort to appeal to teenagers' "rebellious" tendencies, a practice which its critics deride. Since the early 2000s, Hot Topic has been increasingly perceived as a "poseur" store, and some counterculture (goth, punk, emo etc.) consumers refrain from shopping there. Members of a counterculture tend to resent the appropriation of the trappings of their subculture as commodities for mainstream consumption. In this vein, recording artist MC Lars has released a song titled "Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock." Ironically, The Matches, who provide the music background to "Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock", have toured with a Hot Topic sponsored tour in the past. Hot Topic acknowledged the song by instructing stores to devote a small area of the stores to display products mentioned in the song. Although the store's slogan, "Everything about the music", many products in the store are not directly connected to music and thusly people challenge the validity of the slogan; but fact remains that the store's backbone is still their music apperal. The company's best preforming department is their music tee shirts, which range from classic rock, alternative rock, nu-metal, metal (music), indie rock and more. additionally many Hot Topic stores have full CD departments and carry select vinyl albums. Depending on store location, contract restrictions with malls and store size some stores only some stores are only able to sell select vinyl album and compilation albums. Although the store sells certain items, such as bumper stickers that read "support your local band", it is company policy to not allow local artists to post flyers announcing their upcoming shows or gigs on windows or point-of-sale locations. The stores do contain "Tour Dates Books" - a binder for local bands to post their flyers, demos and promotional materials, this is done to decrease clutter caused by bands and other people. Some Hot Topic stores do sell local band merchandise and the company spotlights up-and-coming bands in their "Neighborhood Noise" program on their website.
